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Anyone who has gone through East Croydon station in the last week will have noticed refurbishment work is underway at the former Whistlestop convenience store.

The shop which sold beer, wine, spirits, sandwiches, cold drinks, snacks, groceries, flowers and tobacco shut down in June and was completely stripped out inside by early July.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), which runs the railway station, has now confirmed the unit will reopen as a Caffé Nero.

A GTR spokesman said: "We can now confirm that the new tenant for the East Croydon unit will be Caffé Nero. We expect the shop to open late August."

The shop will remain the same size and will offer the chain's full menu of hot and cold drinks, pastries, sweet treats, breakfast items and lunch options.

A Network Rail spokesman confirmed that that popular coffee chain applied for the lease before the Whistlestop shop closed down.

The announcement means there will now be two Caffé Nero units pretty much within sight of each other as the coffee chain also has a shop on George Street.

There is also a Costa inside East Croydon station, as well as a Starbucks kiosk and AMT Coffee kiosk on the platforms and a Pumpkin Cafe on each pair of platforms.

Additionally, The Department of Coffee and Social Affairs, in Boxpark, SmoothBean! in Dingwall Road and Pret a Manger, on George Street, also sell coffee within a very short walk of the station.

Councillor Mark Watson, the council's cabinet member for economy and jobs, said: "It is a shame to hear there is another coffee shop setting up - when SmoothBean! opened in the area years ago, it needed a coffee shop, but now you can't walk down that street without passing four or five.

"It is a great little location and it would have been nice to have had something else there, perhaps something a bit different or more interesting. For example, at London Victoria there is this independent cheese shop which is the kind of thing you don't see anywhere else in town.

"I think it is very difficult for a small convenience store to compete with the big name brands like Sainsbury's here.

"One of the things we are trying to do is being more proactive in asking residents and traders what their area needs and encouraging that sort of trader to then consider opening in that location."